Methods and apparatus for transferring tows

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for displacing the travelling path of tows in substantially parallel form in a process for advancing and transferring tows. Tow feed roller means and take-up roller means therefor are disposed in parallel and a plurality of guide cylinders are arranged therebetween, at least two of the guide cylinders being disposed in nonparallel relation with both the feed and take-up rollers such that distortions are not caused in the plane of the tows going around the rollers. The lengths of the tows travelling between the feed and take-up roller means are thus made substantially equal at any portion across the tows thereby preventing uneven tow tension in the advancing tows.

United States Patent 1191 Izawa et al. Oct. 9, 1973 [5 METHODS ANDAPPARATUS FOR 3,592,371 7/1971 Wyatt 19/65 T TRANSFERRING TOWS K PrimaryExaminer-Louis Rimrodt [75] Inventors: Nobuharo Izawa; HlroshiToyoshima; Munetsugu Kikuyama, Attorney Sherman and Shalloway all ofMatsuyarna, Japan [57] ABSTRACT [73] Asslgneei Teijin Limited OsakaJapan The present invention relates to methods and appara- [22] Filed:Sept. 2, 1971 tus for displacing the travelling path of tows insubstantially parallel form in a process for advancing and [21] Appl-177,887 transferring tows. Tow feed roller means and take-up rollermeans therefor are disposed in parallel and a 52 11.5. C1. 19/65 T,28/1.6 plurality of guide cylinders are arranged therebe- 51 1m. (:1.B65h 5/12, 1301a 11/04 tween, at least of the guide cylinders being [58]Field 61 Search 1. 28/l.6, 1 CF; Posed in nonparallel relation with boththe feed and 19/65 T, 66 T take-up rollers such that distortions are notcaused in the plane of the tows going around the rollers. The [56]References Cited lengths of the tows travelling between the feed andUNITED STATES PATENTS take-up roller means are thus made substantiallyequal at any portion across the tows thereby preventing un- 22352;; ieven tow tension in the advancing tows. 3:423:806 1/1969 Dickins 19/66 T11 Claims, 14 Drawing Figures 3b lo 30 I r 3o hl 3b PATENTED 9 75 SHEET1 (IF 7 PATENTEDUBT 9% 3,763,520

SHEET 20? 7 PATENTED 9% 3,763.52()

' sum 3 or 7 PATENTED 9 I975 SHEET H F 7 PATENTED OBI 91973 SHEET 5 [IF7 PATENTEU 9 SHEEI 6 [1F 7 METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSFERRING TOWSThe present invention relates to methods and apparatus for transferringtows, particularly, without causing uneven tow tension across the towsby displacing the path of travel of the tows in substantially parallelform.

In general, in a process for treating tows, a tow obtained in thepreceding process is in some cases transferred from a feed roller meansto a take-up roller means by displacing its path of travel insubstantially parallel.

For instance, usually in the manufacture of synthetic staple fibers, anundrawn synthetic tow having a denier of 500,000 to 6,000,000 is drawnto 2 to 6 times the original length between feed roller means and drawroller means; it is then fed to a crimping machine having a pair of niprollers substantially parallel with the draw roller means to impartzigzag crimp to the tow, heat set the crimped tow and cut with a cutterinto staple fibers.

Generally the width of a tow in the drawing process is several times asbroad as that of the nip rollers of a crimping machine, and it isimpossible to feed the broad tow to the nip rollers without furtherprocessing.

For this reason, the tow is divided into a plurality of subtowsoverlapping each other to make one thick tow having the same width asthat of the nip rollers for feeding to a crimping machine, or the tow isdivided into a plurality of subtows fed into a plurality of crimpingmachines, respectively.

in the latter case, the take-up roller means. is frequently arranged insubstantially parallel relation with feed roller means. In the formercase, that is, in dividing a tow into several subtows and overlappingeach other, it is essential to cause the center line of each dividedsubtow to agree with the receiving direction of the take-up roller meansand reach the take-up roller means. If without further processing thedivided subtows are sent to the take-up roller means, most of dividedsubtows will reach the take-up roller means without any agreement of thecenter line of each subtow with the receiving direction of the take-uproller means. For the subtows that will reach the take-up roller meanswithout agreement of their center lines with the receiving direction ofthe take-up roller means, the tow paths should be displaced in parallelform and agreed with the receiving direction of the take-up roller meansto permit the subtows to stack each other.

In the latter case, that is, in supplying divided subtows into aplurality of crimping machines, respectively, the center line of one ofthe divided subtows agrees with the receiving direction of the take-uproller means, but the center lines of the other divided subtows willdisagree with the receiving directions of take-up roller means.Therefore they should beadjusted such that they agree with thedirections.

It is well known in the art, e.g., British Pat. No. 962,516 that inmethods of transferring tows from feed rollers in the preceding processto take-uprollers in the subsequent process substantially parallel withthe feed rollers in the preceding process while displacing the path oftravel of the tows in substantially parallel form, guide cylinders aredisposed between the feed rollers in the preceding process and thetake-up rollers in the subsequent process so that they are inclined to aplane passing through the feed and take-up rollers to permit each towwhich is to be transferred to be urged against each guide cylinder onetime and to thereby displace the path of each tow leaving the precedingprocess in parallel form and transfer the tows from the precedingprocess to the subsequent process.

However when the distance between the feed rollers in the precedingprocess and the take-up rollers in the subsequent process is small,distortions occur in the planes of the tows between the last roller ofthe feed rollers and the inclined guide cylinder and in the planes ofthe tows between the guide cylinder and the first roller of the take-uprollers, and the lengths of travel of tows between the feed and take-uprollers differ at each portion across the tows. Thus uneven tension inthe width direction of the tows is caused and as a result, the stableoperation in the subsequent process, for instance, a crimping process,is damaged. Hence when this method is used the distance from the lastroller of the feed rollers in the preceding process to the first rollerof the take-up rollers of the subsequent process should be lengthened inorder that such distortions of tow planes may be reduced and differencesin the lengths of travel within the tows may be lessened. Since, forinstance, 5 to 10 meter distance is required, there is a drawback thatthe equipment needs a great space.

As described above, conventional methods have disadvantages that uneventow tension in the width-wise direction occurs or a great space isneeded for the device.

As described above, uneven tow tension in the widthwise direction iscaused by distortions generated in the plane of the travelling tows anddifferences in the lengths of travel of the tows between the last feedroller and the first take-up roller occurring at each portion in thewidthwise direction of the tows.

In other words, if distortions of planes of the travelling tows areprevented and the lengths of travel of tows are so arranged as not to bedifferent at any portion in the widthwise direction of the tows, uneventension in the widthwise direction of the tows will not occur.

With this point in mind, the present invention has eliminated suchdrawbacks of conventional methods.

The object of the present invention is to provide methods of andapparatus for transferring tows from the last roller of a drawingmachine to a pair of nip rollers of a stuffer crimper substantiallyparallel with the last roller of the drawing machine without causinguneven tow tension in the widthwise direction and in a considerablyshort-distant path by displacing the tows in parallel form.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be obvious andapparent hereinafter.

According to the present invention, in displacing the tow paths inparallel form between feed and take-up roller means substantiallyparallel with each other in their axes in a process for transferringtows, a plurality of guide cylinders are disposed between the feed andtake-up rollers and by means of the relative positions of the guidecylinders, the lengths of travel of tows between both the rollers arecaused not to vary at any portion across the tows and occurrence ofdistortions of travelling tows is prevented. Thus the tow path can bedisplaced in parallel form without any widthwise uneven tension of tows.

Transferring tows from the feed roller means to the take-up roller meansby displacing the tow path in parallel form means to transfer the towsfrom the feed roller means to the take-up roller means such that whenthe travelling paths of the tows just before they have left the feedroller means and the travelling paths of the tows just before they havereached the take-up roller means are projected in a plane formed by theaxes of the feed and take-up rollers from the direction perpendicular tothe plane, the projected travelling paths are parallel with each other.

The present invention will be described below with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show cases where the guide cylinders in the presentinvention are held in the stationary state and FIG. I is a side view andFIG. 2 is a plan view.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show cases where the guide cylinders are held in therotatable state and FIG. 3 is a side view and FIG. 4 is a plan view.

FIG. 5 is a plan view modifying FIG. 2.

FIGS. 6 and 8 are side views showing applications of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of another application of the presentinvention.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing the arrangement of guide cylinders of thepresent invention.

FIG. 13 is a side view of FIG. 12.

FIG. 14 is a detailed view of a device for holding the guide cylinder ofthe present invention.

One embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, a feed roller 2 and a take-up roller 4 are arrangedsuch that their axes are substantially parallel. Two guide cylinders 3,3 are held in the stationary state between said rollers and the axes ofthe guide cylinders 3, 3 are disposed in nonparallel relation with theaxes of the feed roller 2 and the take-up roller 4. A tow 1 reaches thetake-up roller 4 from the feed roller 2 via the guide cylinders 3, 3'.In FIG. 2, the path of the tow 1 between the feed roller 2 and the guidecylinder 3 is parallel with that between the guide cylinder 3 and thetake-up roller 4, and the paths are displaced for a distance 8,. Thedisplacement occurs between the guide cylinders 3 and 3'.

First with such a tow advancing state in mind, in order that thedistortions of plane of the advancing tow may be avoided, it isessential that the guide cylinders are arranged such that a towdeparture line and a tow arrival line on the roller and guide cylinderadjacent and facing each other along the tow path or on the guidecylinders (guides) facing and adjacent each other along the towtravelling path are coplanar. For instance, in the case of the feedroller 2 and the guide cylinder 3 considered guides adjacent and facingeach other along the tow path, the feed roller 2 and the guide cylinder3 are arranged such that the tow departure line A-A' and the tow arrivalline 8-8 are coplanar.

For such an arrangement, it is sufficient that when the diameters of thefeed roller 2 and the guide cylinder 3 are the same, both are arrangedso that their axes are coplanar, but when their diameters are different,the positions of both guides may be appropriately rearranged accordingto difference in the diameters.

This is also the case with the subsequent tow paths, that is, betweenthe guide cylinders 3 and 3 or between the guide cylinder 3' and thetake-up roller 4. It is easily possible to prevent the distortions oftow plane.

Second the directions of the guide cylinders 3, 3' become a primaryproblem. For instance when the axes of the feed roller and the guidecylinder are parallel, there will be no change in tow path. However ifthe axes of the feed roller and the guide cylinder are renderedunparallel and intersect to make an angle 01,, the displacement of a towbecomes possible as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. This is one embodiment inwhich the axes of the guide cylinders are parallel to each other butanother embodiment in which they are unparallel to each other is shownin FIG. 5.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the axes of the guidecylinders 3 and 3 are positioned in one and the same plane and parallel,as shown in FIG. 2. The arrangement can very easily be determinedexperimentally and is rotional. The tow supported with the guidecylinders 3, 3' with the axes kept parallel, which is sectioned by thetow departure line and the tow arrival line, forms a parallelogram. Theguide cylinders 3, 3 are each inclined to the axes of the rollers 2, 4at the same angles, respectively. Under these circumstances, thetravelling tow is bent but not twisted nor distorted, and the lengths oftravel of the tow are the same in the width direction. Hence the tow istransferred from the feed roller 2 to the take-up roller 4 while beingdisplaced in the parallel form without any trouble.

In summary the present invention relates to methods and apparatus fortransferring tows whereby between feed roller means and take-up rollermeans arranged such that the axes of both the roller means are parallel,a plurality of guide cylinders are disposed in the stationary state andthe axes of the guide cylinders are parallel, but unparallel with theaxes of the feed and take-up roller means; a tow departure line and atow arrival line on a roller and a guide cylinder adjacent and facingeach other along the tow paths or on the guide cylinders adjacent andfacing each other along the tow paths are coplanar.

In this case, a distance of displacement of the tow 8, is governed by anangle a, made by the feed roller 2 and the guide cylinder 3 as well asthe distance between the guide cylinders 3, 3'.

However in FIGS. 1 and 2, the guide cylinders are disposed in thestationary state, but it has been found that when they are rotatablydisposed, an entirely different state occurs. In FIGS. 3 and 4, they arefreely or positively rotatable, but the arrangement of the feed roller2, 2 and the take-up roller 4 and the relative positioning of the guidecylinders 3, 3' are much the same as in FIGS. 1 and 2. Most preferably,the guide cylinders are freely rotatable. For instance, as shown in FIG.3, when the tow l is pulled with the take-up roller 4, etc., the guidecylinders 3, 3' are caused to rotate in the direction of travel of thetow to insure an operation free from slippage of the tow on the surfacesof the guide cylinders and prevent the damage of the tow.

As described above, when the guide cylinders 3, 3' are made freelyrotatable by the tow, it is a particularly conspicuous phenomenon thatthe engagement relationship of the tow with the guide cylinders isnaturally adjusted and the direction of entry of the tow makes a rightangle with the axis of the guide cylinder. In FIG. 4, the tow path isdisplaced in parallel form for a distance 8 but the state of advance ofa tow is found considerably different from those in FIGS. 1 and 2. Thatis,

as shown in FIG. 4, the tow 1 changes its direction of travel graduallyon the feed roller 2 and enters the guide cylinder 3 and then the guidecylinder 3', perpendicularly to them. The tow enters the take-up roller4 at a right angle by changing its direction of of travel gradually onthe guide cylinder. In this case, the lengths of travel of a tow betweenthe feed and take-up rollers are substantially the same at any portionacross the tow.

In one embodiment as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, it is noted that it is theangles of a plurality of guide cylinders and the distance between theguide cylinders that control the distance of displacement of a tow inparallel form. If such controlling elements are adopted, a desiredpurpose can be attained, despite a short distance between the feed andtake-up rollers.

For instance, in FIGS. 1 and 2, as the angle a, becomes large, thedistance of the displacement of the tow 8, becomes large. If thedistance I between the guide cylinders 3 and 3 is made greater, thedistance of the displacement of the tow 8, becomes large. A combinationbetween a change of angles and that of distances is also possible.

In any embodiment in FIGS. 2 to 4, a desired distance of thedisplacement of the tow is obtainable by appropriately arranging theabove-described angle and distance. Hence there is no need to lengthenthe distance between the feed roller 2 and the take-up roller 4 as hasbeen the case with conventional methods. The guide cylinders 3, 3' mayor may not be rotatable (rotatable or stationary). Generally speaking,it is more advantageous to use rotatable guide cylinders because of lesswear and abrasion of the guide cylinders and less damage of atow. Whenunrotatable guide cylinders are used, it is desirable to render theirsurface matte finished to reduce susceptibility to damage of a tow.

In embodiments in FIGS. 1 to 4, the tow l is displaced in parallel formwith the two guide cylinders 3, 3' arranged in parallel, but it ispossible to displace the tow in parallel form with three unparallelguide cylinders.

Another embodiment of the present invention with the use of threeunrotatable guide cylinders is shown in FIG. 5.

In FIG. 5, between the feed roller 2 in the preceding process and thetake-up roller 4 in the subsequent process are arranged three unparallelunrotatable guide cylinders 3, 3', 3" so that they are unparallel to thefeed roller 2 in the preceeding process and the tow departure line andthe tow arrival line are coplanar on the roller and guide cylinderadjacent and facing each other along the path of travel of a tow or onthe two guide cylinders adjacent and facing each other. The tow l isurged against each guide cylinder onetime and transferred so that thepath of travel of the tow l is displaced from the feed roller 2 to thetake-up roller 4 in the subsequent process substantially inparallel formwithout occurrence of lateral uneven tow tension. The distance of thedisplacement of the tow in this case is shown in 8 Generally the higherthe number of guide cylinders disposed between the feed roller means inthe preceding process and the take-up roller means in the subsequentprocess, the more complicated become the operations between the twoprocesses. Thus it is desirable to arrange guide cylinders in the leastpossible number and to use the minimum two guide cylinders unparallel tothe feed roller means in the preceding process.

Summarizing the embodiments in FIGS. 1 to.5, the main elements of thepresent invention will be described below.

In displacing the path of travel of a tow in parallel form between thefeed and take-up roller means with their axes substantially parallel toeach other in a process for transferring the tow, a plurality of guidecylinders are arranged between the two roller means so that the axes ofat least two guide cylinders among them are in nonparallel relation withthe axes of the two roller means and a tow departure line and a towarrival line on the adjacent roller and guide cylinder facing each otheror on the adjacent guide cylinders facing each other are coplanar, andthe travelling tow is engaged with the guide cylinders in turn afterleaving the feed roller means and lead into the take-up roller meanswith changes in the direction of travel of the tow.

FIG. 6 is a side'view showing a further embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of that embodiment.

That is, FIGS. 6 and 7 show an embodiment in which the synthetic fibertow stretched with a drawing machine is led into a crimping machine ofstuffer box type for crimping by the division of the stretched tow intothree subtows and the overlapping of the three subtows to form one thicktow having a width equal to that of the nip rollers of the crimpingmachine.

The stretched tow l is heat treated with a heater plate 6 disposedbetween a draw rollers 5 and the takeup rollers 2, under tension, aconstant length or shrinkage, and divided into subtows la, lb and .10 inalmost equal width at the take-up rollers 2. The tow 1 may be divided atan optional place, before, during or after stretching. The subtows la,lc at both edges pass through the guide cylinders 30, 3a" arranged inparallel with the take-up rollers 2, are urged against a pair ofunrotatable guide cylinders 3b, 3b, 3b", and 3b' one time, respectively,given parallel displacement amount necessary for exactly overlapping thecentral subtow lb and being stacked at the guide cylinders 30 located inparallel with a pair of nip rollers 4, 4' ofa crimping machine into onetow and fed into the nip rollers 4, 4. Since there is no need todisplace the path of travel of contact with the unparallel guidecylinders. To make the length of travel of the subtow lb between thetakeup roller 2 and the nip rollers 4, 4' of the crimping machine equalto those of the subtows In, It for equalizing the temperatures among thesubtows, it is necessary that the central subtow lb is urged against aguide cylinder 30 provided in parallel with the rollers 2.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing one embodiment of the present inventionwith the use of rotatable guide cylinders 3b, 3b, 3b", 3b' unparallel tothe feed rollers 2 in the preceding process in dividing the drawn tow llinto two subtows la, lb, overlapping each other and feeding them to acrimping machine. FIG. 9 is a plan view of FIG. 8.

In FIGS. 8 and 9, the two drawn tows 1a and lb passed through drawingrollers 5 and caused to meander on heated rollers 2 are respectivelyadvanced with the engagement with two sets of guide cylinders 3b, 3b and3b", 3b' disposed in nonparallel relation with the guide cylinders3a,3a' and the heated rollers 2, displaced in parallel form foroverlapping each other and fed into the pair of nip rollers 4, 4' of thecrimping machine. The use of these heated rollers 2 is not essential.The tow may be transferred directly from the drawing rollers 5 to theguide cylinders 3a, 3a to attain the ob ject of the present invention.In this case, guide cylinders 3b, 3b, 3b", 3b"' are adapted to beunparallel with the drawing rollers 5.

Further all the guide cylinders and rollers in FIGS. 6 to 9 are arrangedsuch that a tow departure line and a tow arrival line are coplanar onthe roller and the guide cylinder adjacent and facing each other alongthe direction of travel of the tow or on a pair of adjacent guidecylinders facing each other. And the pair of guide cylinders 3b, 3b areparallel as are the pair of guide cylinder 3b", 3b'. Distortions ofplane of the tow between the feed rollers and the take-up rollers andlateral uneven tow tension are thus prevented.

With reference to these embodiments of the present invention the effectof the present invention will be described in detail.

First, without a large space for conventional methods, a tow can betransferred from the feed roller means in the preceding process to thetake-up roller means in the subsequent process without generatinglateral uneven tow tension by displacing the path of travel of the towin substantially parallel form. In conventional methods, the distancebetween the feed roller means in the preceding process and the crimpingmachine should be about to 10 meters or above, but in the presentinvention the distance can be reduced to less than a half of thatrequired in conventional methods and there is no need to have a largespace for apparatus.

Second the above-described advantage of the present invention that thedistance can be reduced is not limited to the compactness of apparatusbut can elevate crimp performance and affect the quality of the productadvantageously.

In stuffer box crimping, tow is usually preheated before it enters thecrimping machine to elevate crimp performance and crimp properties; thetow after drawing is divided and the divided tows are overlapped toproduce a thick tow and heated just in front of the crimping machine. Inthis case, uniform heating for the inside of the tow is defficultbecause of the thickness of the tow and a long period of time forheating is needed.

In contrast, in the present invention the tows can be overlapped withoutlateral uneven tow tension in space less than a half of that inconventional methods; consequently as shown in FIGS. 6 to 9, the tow 1after drawing is heated in a thin layer before the overlapping of thedivided tows and then the tows are overlapped and fed into the crimpingmachine as a tow having an appropriate temperature. Usually, a syntheticfiber tow is heated at elevated temperatures under tension, in therelaxed state or while keeping a constant length to improve propertiesof fibers in the tow such as strength, elongation and dimensionalstability after drawing. If the present invention is applied to thiscase, the high temperature tow heated by the thermal energy at thedrawing machine can be supplied to the crimping machine resulting inhighly economical advantage.

In conventional methods, in order that a plurality of tows may bedisplaced in parallel form, overlapped and fed from the feed rollermeans in the preceding process to the subsequent take-up roller meanswithout any lateral uneven tow tension, it is necessary to lengthen thedistance between the feed roller means and the take-up In the presentinvention, the temperature of a tow to be fed to a crimping machinevaries slightly with a kind of fiber constituting the tow, the towtravelling speeds, and the distance between a heating device and thecrimping machine. But in general, the tow drawn is heated to the glasstransition point 20C to the melting point lOC, whereby the towtemperature at the entrance to the crimping machine will be the glasstransition point to the melting point -30C resulting in imparting highcrimp to the tow with the crimping machine.

Further another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 10and 11.

FIG. 10 is a perspective drawing of the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the embodiment.

In the treatment of a tow of synthetic fibers, for the purpose ofincreasing productivity of the tow, one broad tow obtained with onedrawing machine is divided into a plurality of subtows and each subtowis supplied into each crimping machine. That is, the tow produced withone drawing machine is divided into a plurality of subtows and eachsubtow is led into a plurality of crimping machines. As shown in FIGS.10 and 11, when a plurality of crimping machines are arranged in theaxial direction of the nip rollers 4, 4', the divided subtows aredisplaced in parallel form by the process of the present invention toenable the supply into each crimping machine.

In FIGS. 10 and 11, the drawn tow l is divided into subtows la, lb andI0 and the subtow la is caused to pass through draw roller 5 and feedrollers 2, 2' and is urged against a pair of rotatable guide cylinders3a, 3a parallel to each other but unparallel to the draw roller 5 andthe feed rollers 2, 2', and fed into the nip rollers 4a, 4a of thecrimping machine. In like manner, the subtow lc is advanced with theengagement with the rotatable guide cylinders 30, 3c, and fed into thenip rollers 4c, 4c of the crimping machine. The subtow lb need not betransferred by parallel displacement and the rotatable guide cylinders3b, 3b need not be unparallel to the feed rollers 2, 2' in the precedingprocess.

In FIGS. 10 and 11, all the guide cylinders, 30, 3a, 3b, 3b, 3c and 3care all rotatable and so arranged that parts of each subtow in contactwith the guide cylinders or the rollers are coplanar.

When the tow path is displaced by conventional methods, the collectedstate of the stacked tows just before the crimping machine isunsatisfactory because of lateral uneven tow tension; particularly, thetows cannot be uniformly stacked at both edges of the tows, with theresult of poor operational stability of the crimping machine to be usedtherefor. However the present invention has no such drawback.

In the present invention, the distance of the parallel displacement oftow path for a tow can be optionally adjusted by the relative positionsof guide cylinders to be used and the mounting angle ofa guide cylinderunparallel to the feed roller in the preceding process. According to thepresent invention, tow path of any breadth can be displaced in parallelform.

In the present'invention, the shape of a guide cylinder should becylindrical and hour-glass or pot-bellied shape is not proper. Thesurface of it may be mirrorlike or matte finished, but when a guidecylinder is unrotatable, a matte finished one is preferable.

FIGS. 12 and 13 show one embodiment of positioning guide cylinders 3,3'. Three guide plates 13', are arranged in the front of a frame 13 andslide blocks 9, 9

are slidably fitted at the intervals between the guide plates. Shafts10, are secured to the slide blocks 9, 9 in a given direction, and tothe shafts are mounted guide cylinders 3, 3' rotatably or unrotatably.The axes of the guide cylinders 3, 3' are parallel to each other. Theslide blocks 9, 9' are respectively connected to screw shafts l1, 11',on the opposite side of the shafts l0, 10. The screw shafts 11, 11 aremounted to the frame 13 with handles 12, 12 attached to their ends sothat the screw shafts 11, 11' are parallel to the slide blocks 9, 9.

The adjusting device ofguide cylinders in FIGS. 12 and 13 will beapplied to one embodiment of the present invention in FIGS. 1 and 2. Inthis case, an angle a, is assumed to be constant and the intervalbetween the guide cylinders 3 and 3 is just adjusted. In FIG. 13, theposition of the slide block 9 is maintained constant, and the positionof the other guide block 9' is moved by the operation of the handle 12'.The intervals between the guide cylinders 3, 3 are changeable. By thisadjustment the distance of the parallel displacement of the tow 6, canbe adjusted.

As described above, the distance of the parallel displacement of the towcan be adjusted by changing the angle a, made by the axis of the feedroller 2 and that of the guide cylinder 3. This is shown in FIG.' 14.The slide block 9 is combined with the shaft 10, which is supported witha spherical bearing 14 within the slide block 9. To the end of the shaft10 is fitted another spherical bearing 15. The block 16 supporting thespherical bearing is supported with bolts 17, 17' at the upper part andthe lower part thereof. The bolts 17, 17' displace the block 16 up anddown by means of screws. Thus the back and forth rotation of the shaft10 is possible with the spherical bearing 14 as the supporting point.The application of the device in FIG. 14 to the device in FIGS. 12 and13 permits the adjustment f of the angle 0: as well as the adjustment ofintervals between the guide cylinders. The device in FIG. 14 is, ofcourse, singly applicable without its combination with the device inFIGS. 12 and 13. In this case only the angle of the guide cylinder isadjustable.

A further understanding of the invention will be had from aconsideration of the following examples which are set forth forillustrating certain preferred embodiments.

EXAMPLE 1 having a width of 1,000 mm was handled with the apparatus, andthe distance of the parallel displacement 8, as shown in FIG. 2 turnedout to be 470 mm. Without irregular tension across the tow, the towcould be transferred from the feed roller 2 in the preceding process tothe take-up roller 4 in the subsequent process while the tow path wasbeing displaced in parallel form.

EXAMPLE 2 In another embodiment of the present invention as shown inFIGS. 3 and 4, the relative positions of the guide cylinders 3, 3' andthe feed roller are given in FIG. 3. The guide cylinders are rotatableand parallel to each other but unparallel to the feed roller 2. Thesettings are I 132 mm, h, 150 mm and r mm where 1 is the horizontaldistance between the two guide cylinders, )1 is the vertical distanceand r is the diameter of the guide cylinders 3, 3'. And let thehorizontal distance P between the guide cylinder 3 and the feed roller 2in the preceding'process be 250 mm and an angle a made by these twoelements be 1130. A 300,000 denier polyethylene terephthalate tow 1having a width of 100 mm was passed through the apparatus in engagementwith the guide cylinders. The distance of the parallel displacement ofthe tow was 86 mm in FIG. 4. Without a lateral uneven tow tension, thetow could be very smoothly moved from the feed roller 2 to the take-uproller 4 by displacing the tow in parallel form.

EXAMPLE 3 In FIGS. 6 and 7, a 3 million denier undrawn polyester fibertow was drawn to 4.0 times the original length, and heated with a heaterplate 6. The tow 300 mm wide was divided into three subtows, 1a, 1b and1c. These three subtows were advanced in engagement with the guidecylinders as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 and fed into the nip rollers 4, 4'of a crimping machine.

In this case, the guide cylinders 3a, 3a, 3a and the guide cylinders 3b,3b, 3b' and 3b"' were arranged in such a way as l =1 mm h h mm S 10 mm(The diameter of each guide cylinder was 100 mm.).

The distance between the feed roller 2 and the nip TABLE 1 TABLE 1Continued Tow tempera- Tow ture temperajust in ture point of NumberStandard at exit of crimping Degree of of erimps deviation Experimentheater machine crimpness, (crests/ of number number plate Draft C.)percent 25 mm.) of erimps Nora-The degree of erimpness and the number oferimps are averages of 50 data measured by Japanese IndustrialStandards, and the standard deviation is given with 50 data.

EXAMPLE 4 In FIGS. 8 and 9, a 2,400,000 denier undrawn polyester fibertow was divided into two tows before drawing and after drawing, twosubtows la, lb having a denier of 300,000 and a width of 100 mm eachwere obtained, distance W between the center lines of the two subtowsbeing 120 mm.

After the engagement with the heated feed rollers 2 in the precedingprocess in the serpentine form,.the two subtows were urged against apair of parallel, rotatable guide cylinders 3b, 3b and 3b, 3b',respectively and fed into a pair of nip rollers 4, 4' ofa crimpingmachine of stuffer-box type.

In this case, in FIGS. 10 and 11, the guide cylinders 30, 3a, and 3b,3b, 3b, 3b (The guide cylinders last roller of the draw roller group 2and the nip rollers 4, 4' of the crimping machine, one subtow wasstacked on the other tow, made into one tow and fed into the nip rollers4, 4' 90 mm in width. In this case, in order that one subtow may bestacked 100 percent with a minimum lateral uneven tow tension, thedistance between the last roller of the draw roller group 5 and the niprollers 4, 4 of the crimping machine was required to be 6.0 m or above.

With such a distance of 6.0 m or above, actual industrial production isvery disadvantageous, and with a distance of 1.5 m, experiments wereconducted. Distortions in the plane of the stacked tow occurred, anduneven tension across the tow could not be eliminated. Test results aregiven in Table 3.

TABLE 3 Tow tem- Tow temperature perature Number of Standard Malfunctionat exit of at entrance Degree of crimps deviation in crimping Experlmentlast heating to crimping crimpness, (crests/25 of number machine numberroller C.) machine percent mm.) of erimps times/24 hr.

each were 100 mm in diameter.) were arranged such We claim:

that

h I1 150 mm I 1 mm P P 260 mm S 10 mm The distance between the lastroller of the heated roller group and the nip rollers 4, 4 of a crimpingmachine was set to 1,500 mm and the width of the nip roller mm.

As a result, the subtows la and lb were stacked 100 percent just behindthe guide cylinders 3b, 3b without any tension irregularity across thetow, resulting is very stable operations of the crimping machine.

0 where the tow departs from said feed roller means or one of said guidecylinders and a line defining a position where the tow arrives at one ofsaid guide cylinders or said take-up roller means, said pair of linesbeing, respectively, on a pair of members consisting of (a) said Thetest results are given in Table 2. 55 feed roller means and one of saidguide cylinders, (b)

TABLE 2 Tow tem- Tow temperature perature Number of Standard Malfunctionat exit of at entrance Degree of crimps deviation in crimping Experimentlast heating to crimping crimpness, (crests/25 of number machine numberroller C.) machine percent mm of crimps times/24 hr.

CONTROL two of said guide cylinders, or (c) one of said guide cyl- A2,400,000 denier undrawn polyester fiber tow was divided into two towsin the apparatus of FIGS. 8 and 9 without the use of 3a, 3a, 3b, 3b,3b", 3b". After drawing, they were made into subtows la, lb each havinga denier of 300,000 denier and a width of mm. With the use of one guidecylinder located between the thereby displace the tows paths in parallelin a plane figure.

2. A method asset forth in claim 1 in which the parallel displacement ofthe tow paths is adjusted by changing the angle of said guide cylindersrelative to the axes of said feed and take-up roller means.

3. A method as set forth in claim 1 in which the parallel displacementof the tow paths is adjusted by changing the intervals between at leasttwo guide cylinders.

4. A method as set forth in claim 1 in which the parallel displacementof the tow paths is adjusted by changing the interval between one ofsaid guide cylinders and one of said feed or take-up roller means.

5. A method of claim 1 in which there are only two of said guidecylinders, said two guide cylinders being disposed in substantiallyparallel relation to each other.

6. In apparatus for transferring tows from feed roller means to take-uproller means having substantially parallel axes of rotation bydisplacing tow paths in parallel form, the improvement comprising twoguide cylinders disposed in substantially parallel relation to eachother between said feed and take-up roller means, said two guidecylinders being disposed in nonparallel relation to said feed andtake-up roller means.

7. An apparatus as set forth in claim 6 in which at least one of saidtwo guide cylinders is movable in par allel with the other.

8. An apparatus as set forth in claim 6 in which angles between the axesof said two guide cylinders and axes of said feed and take-up rollermeans are adjustable.

9. An apparatus as set forth in claim 8 in which at least one of saidtwo guide cylinders is movable in par allel to the other.

10. An apparatus as set forth in claim 6 in which said guide cylindersare rotatable.

11. An apparatus as set forth in claim 6 in which said guide cylindersare stationary.

UNITED STATES? PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORBECTIQN Patent No.3,763,520 ated October 9, 1973 Inventor(s) Nobuharu IZAWA ET AL It iscertified that error appears in the above-identified patent and thatsaid Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

In the Heading First name of inventor "Nobuharo" is properly spelled v--Nobuharu- Insert --Claims priority, application Japan, 78326/70, filedSeptember 7, 1970.

Signed and sealed this 16th day of April 19m.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M'J LETCHERQJR. C. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissionerof Patents oam P0 3950 o-s9)

1. In a method for advancing and transferring tows through a pluralityof guide cylinders between feed roller means and takeup roller means,the axes of said feed roller means and said take-up roller means beingsubstantially parallel to each other, the improvement comprisingarranging the axes of at least two of said guide cylinders innonparallel relation with the axes of said feed and take-up rollermeans; arranging respectively in a plane each pair of a line defining aposition where the tow departs fRom said feed roller means or one ofsaid guide cylinders and a line defining a position where the towarrives at one of said guide cylinders or said take-up roller means,said pair of lines being, respectively, on a pair of members consistingof (a) said feed roller means and one of said guide cylinders, (b) twoof said guide cylinders, or (c) one of said guide cylinders and saidtake-up roller means, each pair of members being adjacent to each otheralong the path of travel of the tows; and moving the advancing tows fromsaid feed roller means to contact in succession said guide cylinders andreach said take-up roller means while changing the advancing directionsof the tows to thereby displace the tows paths in parallel in a planefigure.
 2. A method as set forth in claim 1 in which the paralleldisplacement of the tow paths is adjusted by changing the angle of saidguide cylinders relative to the axes of said feed and take-up rollermeans.
 3. A method as set forth in claim 1 in which the paralleldisplacement of the tow paths is adjusted by changing the intervalsbetween at least two guide cylinders.
 4. A method as set forth in claim1 in which the parallel displacement of the tow paths is adjusted bychanging the interval between one of said guide cylinders and one ofsaid feed or take-up roller means.
 5. A method of claim 1 in which thereare only two of said guide cylinders, said two guide cylinders beingdisposed in substantially parallel relation to each other.
 6. Inapparatus for transferring tows from feed roller means to take-up rollermeans having substantially parallel axes of rotation by displacing towpaths in parallel form, the improvement comprising two guide cylindersdisposed in substantially parallel relation to each other between saidfeed and take-up roller means, said two guide cylinders being disposedin nonparallel relation to said feed and take-up roller means.
 7. Anapparatus as set forth in claim 6 in which at least one of said twoguide cylinders is movable in parallel with the other.
 8. An apparatusas set forth in claim 6 in which angles between the axes of said twoguide cylinders and axes of said feed and take-up roller means areadjustable.
 9. An apparatus as set forth in claim 8 in which at leastone of said two guide cylinders is movable in parallel to the other. 10.An apparatus as set forth in claim 6 in which said guide cylinders arerotatable.
 11. An apparatus as set forth in claim 6 in which said guidecylinders are stationary.